


Constant

by QueenElenyaHawk



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Drama, F/M, Romance, Royai - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 22:49:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9349688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenElenyaHawk/pseuds/QueenElenyaHawk
Summary: It will always be a constant reminder of their past.





	

Riza stepped out of the bathtub in her hotel room and wrapped her body with a towel. She had been very careful not to get her hair wet; she couldn’t afford to ruin the beautiful hairdo that Garfiel, a friend of Winry’s from Rush Valley, had so kindly offered to do earlier that morning. While keeping her side bangs, she wore a bun from which a few tresses fell delicately to her shoulders in the shape of soft curls.

Edward’s wedding would take place in only two hours, and she was glad they had asked her to be the maid of honor; Roy, on his part, would be the best man. As happy as she was for the young couple tying the knot, she was also enjoying the process of dressing up and couldn’t wait to see her reflection once she was ready. It wasn’t often she attended formal celebrations.

When she was done with her make-up, she dropped the towel and walked to the bed where her dress was waiting. It was a long-length, sleeveless, turquoise gown that covered entirely her back and neck; perfect for her needs.

She heard Black Hayate approaching her and she turned her head to look at him, but something else called her attention. Behind her on the wall there was a huge mirror, much bigger than the one she had in her apartment. As such, since she was still only in her panties and her back was facing the glass, she could see every detail of her damaged tattoo.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen it before, but more times than not, she had evaded seeing it if she had any intentions of ending her day with some peace of mind.

The transmutation circle etched in her skin was a constant reminder of things that had only brought her pain: her father losing his mind over alchemy which estranged their relationship; her body being used as an object; the burden of carrying a dangerous secret, and having to undress in front of someone if she deemed the person worthy of that knowledge; and every single person who was murdered because she had chosen to trust.

The burn scars that obscured the tattoo, on the other hand, were the constant reminder that she had been set free, laying down the bonds to her father and alchemy, becoming an individual with total control of her body instead of staying a human notebook. Burning the most important parts of the circle hadn’t erased the deaths it had been responsible for, but there would never be another Flame Alchemist, at least.

She decided to stop thinking about those things for the moment and concentrate on the wedding. She put her dress on, one leg at a time. Then she pulled up the zipper on her back—it got stuck. She froze with worry, but was quick enough to tell herself to take a deep breath and not panic about it. Reaching down from over her shoulder, she tried to extend her arm and grab the little object, but didn’t quite get to it. She tried to pull it back down, see if she could fix the problem taking the dress off and holding it in front of her. It didn’t move downwards either.

Frustrated, she pondered over her options. Ripping it off was one of them, and then she would have to desperately ask every woman in Resembool if by any chance they had a spare dress she could wear. Another option could be not attending the wedding at all, which was immediately crossed out of her mental list, since she was the maid of honor and it would be taken as a terrible insult. She sighed and looked at the phone. She knew what she had to do; she just wished she didn’t have to resort to that.

* * *

She opened the door to find Roy Mustang in the hallway. He had a grin on his face and started to talk as she let him in.  
“Fullmetal had some sort of nervous breakdown; you should have seen-”  
He silenced himself and stood immobile for a moment when he noticed her appearance. He scanned her from head to toe, taking in her beauty.  
“You look wonderful!” he said breathlessly.  
She smiled wryly. “Thanks.”  
He frowned; he knew he had been called for something specific. “What is it?”  
She pursed her lips. “I need your help.” She turned around and showed him her back. Half of her tattoo was covered by the dress; the other half was still visible. “It got stuck,” she explained. “I couldn’t even take it off.”

He flinched as he understood her problem. Nobody but the two of them knew about the Flame Alchemy transmutation circle on her skin. She couldn’t have just asked anyone for help; no one else should know about it.

He nodded and walked until he stopped behind her. He had learned the circle by heart; had seen her naked back a hundred times. For him, too, it was a constant reminder of what he had done. If she hadn’t showed it to him in the first place, he wouldn’t have used its power to kill innocents. If he hadn’t used its power to kill innocents, she wouldn’t have asked him to burn her. If; if…

He got a hold of the slider, and after a little struggle, he managed to fix it. He pulled it up, his fingers softly brushing her skin, and he felt her shiver.

He lay a hand on her shoulder. “There,” he said, and removed his hand as she turned to look at him.  
She smiled sincerely. “Thank you. I hope I haven’t caused any setbacks.”  
He shook his head. “Only for yourself. But there’s still some time, don’t worry.”  
“No, I’m done now.”  
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you going barefoot?”  
Her eyes grew wide. “Oh!”  
He laughed. “I’ll leave you alone, so you can get ready,” he said walking towards the door.  
“Yes. Thank you, General. See you at the reception.”  
He held the door handle and faced her with a smirk. “If you think you’ll need help later, I volunteer to take off your dress.”  
He got out and closed the door before being hit by the pillow that was thrown across the room.


End file.
